Boreal Witch

Our toilet, in general, is pretty unreliable. There's just insufficient water pressure to push and slide all the waste down.

Josh and my dad are visiting.

I think you can see where this is going.

Yesterday Josh flushed and then flushed again right away, causing the toilet to overflow. He started to scream and my dad came rushing up the stairs to see what was going on. Dirty water was everywhere. It had even started to leech out onto the carpet. For the next hour, my dad and I tried to figure out how to unplug the clog. Then I got online and discovered the Dawn and hot water trick, which - amazingly! - solved the problem.

For those of you who don't know, you put some Dawn in the toilet, let it sit for a while, then heat up a big pot of water and pour it down the toilet. Then plunge like mad.

Then we ran out of water.

So I write this blog this morning trying to keep laughing about the entire situation. The bathroom is off limits so all bowel movements have to be made outside, so it's really hard not to get a little down about the situation. It's tough not being able to keep ahead of the dishes (I've been doing the dishes in the morning just to keep them from piling up).

Still, when life gives you poopy water, sometimes the only thing you can do is dump it out and laugh about it. So, people, just laugh about it.

Blessed be.

Normally I don't complain about the rain. I do love the smell of wet earth and I love how cleansing rain can be, but we haven't really had a nice string of days in a while. And I feel like I'm living in Washington again with all this rain. (Not that that's a bad thing. If I ever move, it will be to Seattle.)

Still. It's nice to be a little on the cool side since it gets so hot here. And I love the pitter-patter sound the rain makes as it falls on the roof. And it's nice to not smell smoke from nearby forest fires. And I love the sound of thunder and the crack of lightening.

So, I suppose there are some good things about rain.

I could do with a change, that's all.

Blessed be.

It's so great to see how Arthur's growing and developing and learning new things. I love it! It's also exciting to see how excited he gets when he has a good morning. This week we had two great mornings and Arthur loved talking about all the great things he did.

Today we went to the store. As usual, Arthur got half a cookie. Then we took a walk to the fabric store, came back and drove to the post office. We picked up the mail, then went to the "train park" (Pioneer Park). The park is currently tearing up the parking lot, so Arthur got to see a backhoe. Then the man who was working it got out and asked Arthur if he wanted to ride in it. Arthur was a little scared, but we did venture over the fence and look at the backhoe close up. Then we went to the park (and ate some strawberries from a strawberry plant that we found on the way to the park) and played on the swing and the slide. We got to ride on the carousel and saw the train. Then we went to his friend Cedar's house where we had lunch and played at the park across the street.

It was such a busy morning that Artoo fell asleep on the way home.

I love great mornings. It makes the afternoons go by so much easier.

Blessed be.

My weekends are normally pretty busy - especially in the summer. There's just a ton of yard work to do, housework, errands...there's always something that needs to get done and not enough time to get it done in. Add a family visit to an already busy weekend and you get - drum roll, please - complete chaos!

All right, so it really wasn't complete chaos, but there were times it got a bit crazy.

And speaking of crazy, the 2nd annual Really Free Event took place at UAF this weekend. Josh and I had sorted out a lot of Josh's old toys when Arthur and I were in Anchorage. When the family came to visit, they brought all of those toys with them. 6 medium-ish boxes in all. Luckily Blythe didn't get a chance to sort them before the Free Event because they went directly from the plastic tubs to the boxes to the event. In the end, it was pretty nice for Blythe and Josh - they got rid of a lot of stuff and didn't have to worry about bringing it back to Anchorage.

Anyway, Blythe, Josh, Dad, Arthur, and I went to the Free Event. There were so many people there. I almost expected to see people fighting over stuff. By the time we arrived at 10:15, most of the stuff on the tables was already gone. The only huge piles of things left were clothing and books. I found a pair of jeans (which is nice because I'm pretty tough on my jeans), some home decorating books and magazines, and a sheet to use when I recover the leather couch seat in my living room. Josh found a few books and toys and my dad also found some books. All in all, I think what we did find made it worth it. There's another one in August which I'll probably go to again...next time I'd better be there at 9:59.

Blythe brought up her old couch and cabinet for me. We put them in the living room and spent most of the afternoon on Saturday arguing about where they should go. Tuesday, right before the family left, we were able to come up with a solution. Now we have more storage and plenty of seating for guests. The room looks smaller than it did with the chairs, but I still think it's comfortable. I can't wait to show it off!

It's nice having family visit, but it's nice being able to wake up in a quiet, empty house. Arthur didn't want anyone to leave. When he found out that everyone was going home yesterday afternoon, he started to cry.

Now I think I'll try and convince Arthur to come outside with me to plant some seeds. I didn't get a chance to do that this weekend and it's time to get those seedlings in the ground.

Blessed be.

Tonight, Arthur went to the bathroom on his potty...five times...one after the other. Really, I'm almost positive he had to go once, but he just held it in so that he could get five treats.

He's going to be the next Lex Luthor, I'm sure of it.

Blessed be.

...to make a person get things done around the house!

One of my goals this summer is to get some of the little projects done around the yard each week. Like chop up the massive wood pile next to the house. Or build a woodshed for the fire pit. Or clean up the dirt surrounding the rhubarb. Or put the driveway rocks in. Just a lot of little things that would make the yard look less...Alaskan. (Okay, so there's nothing wrong with that, but I've been going through a major purging over the last year and I want to keep my house and yard clutter free.)

Last weekend, Robinson and I spent some time repairing the garden boxes. When we installed them, we didn't use the right nails so the boxes started to fall apart so we re-screwed the boxes and put them back together.

Today we finally put in the flagstones next to the garden. I've had a hole in the front yard between my garden boxes since early last year. I had intended to make a flagstone path, but never got around to it. Then winter came and I couldn't do anything about it anyway.

Needless to say, it was one of the first things on my "To Do" list of summer projects. We started the job early this morning and finished by mid-afternoon. Robinson and I hauled gravel from the gravel piles by the Dog Park and used flat rocks from around our yard. Then we placed the stones and filled in the gaps with sand and extra gravel. We'll probably get some kind of divider to separate the stones from the grass in the yard and put that in tomorrow.

Here's a close-up of the flagstones. The finished project turned out surprisingly well!

Tomorrow we'll be weeding the garden boxes and then adding the worm compost to the topsoil. Next week the family will be here, so we'll probably be doing next to nothing except entertaining. If we do have time, I'd like to weed the rhubarb and make a box for some of the flowers I'll be planting in a couple of weeks.

I love the summer. I love gardening. I love feeling the dirt between my fingers. It feels great to finally be able to play outside. Enjoy the summer.

Blessed be.

Arthur (the lucky boy) had two birthday parties this year: the first in Anchorage and the second back home. A few of his friends came over. We had hamburgers and hot dogs. I made banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.

The kids watered the non-existent garden and ran around the yard. They got bubbles as party favors (and I think Arthur was a little miffed that he didn't get to keep any...he had to give them away to all of his friends).

I love this picture of him. He's certainly growing up fast!

Blessed be.